Chamber and committees

This is an option that the Scottish Government has considered in the past, but it was agreed that hotels were not suitable places to provide health and social care. For a facility to operate as a care home in Scotland, it must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. When registering a service, the Care Inspectorate will consider if the premises in which the proposed service will be provided is fit to be used for the intended purpose. In the case of using hotel rooms as care homes, it is likely the case that such premises would not be suitable to meet people's needs in a person centred way. We recently issued £40m for interim care to make use of spare capacity in settings that are able to provide care in this way

We also aim to create additional capacity in the community by scaling up the provision of Hospital at Home services and £500,000 has been specifically invested to support the creation of a Covid remote monitoring pathway which will support people to stay safe at home through the provision of remote monitoring kits and dedicated support teams.

We welcome the publication of the Scottish Diabetes Survey which provides an annual summary of key issues and trends in diabetes care and treatment in Scotland. As in previous years, the number of people living with diabetes in Scotland is increasing. However, we are not seeing a great increase in the number of new cases, but rather people with diabetes are living longer with the condition.

At the end of December 2020 the Scottish Diabetes Survey reported that 317,128 people have been diagnosed with diabetes of all types in Scotland compared to 312,390 people diagnosed in 2019.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes in Scotland can access appropriate, high-quality, person-centred care. In February 2021, we published our Diabetes Improvement Plan refresh, which builds on the progress made since 2014 and sets out our priorities to deliver safe, effective and person-centred healthcare, treatment and support to those living with diabetes.

Our Type 2 Diabetes Early Detection, Intervention and Prevention Framework was published in 2018 and is designed to support those at risk of, or diagnosed with, type 2 diabetes. It provides guidance to NHS boards on the provision of evidence-based, person-centred targeted interventions across diabetes and weight management services.

In July 2019, the Scottish standards for the delivery of tier 2 and tier 3 weight management services to children and young people and to adults were published. These standards provide a detailed framework to drive forward consistent, equitable and evidence-based approaches across Scotland in the treatment of higher body weight and associated health risks.

The purpose of setting a six week period is to balance the need to ensure that decisions can be dealt with as quickly as possible, with providing applicant’s sufficient time to seek supporting information, or to request help from Social Security Scotland to obtain this information. It also means that there is an up-to-date record of the individual’s care and mobility needs, which Social Security Scotland might not otherwise have if the application is not completed until a much later date.

It is clear on the application form, in our communications and guidance that if an applicant has any difficulty completing the application within the six week period, they should tell Social Security Scotland. If the applicant has good reason for not meeting the deadline, Social Security Scotland can extend this time period for up to 52 weeks. If Social Security Scotland does not accept the reasons for the late completion, the individual has the right to request a re-determination in relation to the start date of assistance.

Since the scheme was introduced the total number of scans carried out by the verifier app in Scotland has been 309,168. The large majority of inspections consist of manual or visual checks, which are not included in this figure. It is not possible to break this down by local authority or venue as the Covid Check App does not retain any data. The scheme allows venues to carry out visual or checks using a verifier app. Venues with attendances of 1000 or more people are not required to carry out 100% checks. Our guidance was updated on 17 January to require those settings to check 50% or 1000 attendees whichever is higher.

To date, Scottish Ministers have had no formal discussions with the survivors or stakeholders involved in the allegations of abuse at Fornethy House Residential School. The abuse of children in all circumstances and settings is wrong, and the Scottish Government takes this abuse very seriously.

Scottish Government officials have exchanged correspondence with a number of members of the Fornethy House Residential School Survivors Group in relation to the eligibility criteria of Scotland’s Redress Scheme. As the circumstances in which individuals came to be at Fornethy may vary, it is not possible to determine eligibility for the group as a whole.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting all survivors of childhood abuse. Through the Scottish Government’s Survivors of Childhood Abuse Support (SOCAS) Fund, 29 organisations across Scotland are funded to provide support to adult survivors of childhood abuse including (but not exclusive to) those who have been abused in care.

The original FOI request and the subsequent review were handled by the Scottish Government in compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Where any requester is dissatisfied with the outcome of a review, there is a clear statutory route by which they may appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner, within six months. Any new request received by the Scottish Government would be considered afresh, in compliance with our obligations under FOISA.

The original FOI request and the subsequent review were handled by the Scottish Government in compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Where any requester is dissatisfied with the outcome of a review, there is a clear statutory route by which they may appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner, within six months. Any new request received by the Scottish Government would be considered afresh, in compliance with our obligations under FOISA.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Commissioner’s latest progress report which demonstrates that we continue to make good progress in delivering the recommendations made by the previous Veterans Commissioner. I am delighted that, of the recommendations against which an assessment was provided, there are now no outstanding ‘red’ recommendations and only seven ‘amber’. The majority of the remaining ambers are from the 2018 paper on veterans’ health.

The Armed Forces Personnel & Veterans Health Joint Group brings together NHS Champions, representatives of the Serving community, veterans organisations, Scottish Government officials and other stakeholders. It is a key vehicle through which the Commissioner’s recommendations are delivered and its current priorities to address the outstanding recommendations include establishing a network for Veterans who have suffered Service-related injuries. This involves engaging extensively with key stakeholders and colleagues in NHS England to learn from the set-up of their Veterans Trauma Network, while recognising the distinct differences in the Health Board structure in Scotland. The Group is also connected to the implementation of the principles that underpin the Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan which ensure that the Armed Forces and Veterans community can access mental health and wellbeing services throughout Scotland.

We are also aware of the interlinked nature of the inequalities that veterans can face and these sit at the heart of the Joint Group's varied priorities. We recognise the positive role that employment has on mental wellbeing and broader socio-economic and health inequalities and we continue to work with partners to develop resources to support veterans to gain employment within the NHS and promote the NHS as a post-Service career.

We will continue to prioritise the delivery of the outstanding recommendations and look forward to contributing to the Commissioner’s next progress report later this year, which we expect will include his most recent recommendations on Employment, Skills and Learning and Housing, plus any recommendations made in his upcoming paper on Health.

The British Standards Institution (BSI) standards relate to the overall approach to retrofit and general processes to be followed by installers in installing energy efficiency measures. These standards are intended to be informed by agreed best practice, as they are applied to different construction types and local conditions. The Scottish Government is working with the BSI to set up a Scottish specific working group to feed into the standards to ensure the unique circumstances in Scotland are reflected in the standards e.g. building types and geography.

The Scottish Government’s guidance on reducing risks in schools, which is published on the Scottish Government website, sets out the advice that local authorities should have regard to when undertaking CO2 monitoring in schools. This includes guidelines as to the actions that should be considered when CO2 readings are at certain levels.

The Scottish Government has not supplied local authorities with a detailed methodology on the use of specific models of CO2 monitors in schools. This is because, drawing on £10m of Scottish Government funding, a variety of fixed and mobile CO2 monitors have been procured by local authorities for deployment to their schools, in order to support local strategies and enable rapid procurement and assessment. Our guidance makes clear that relevant local authority teams should provide clear advice on the appropriate use of CO2 monitors in their schools.